# Index Max Size **URL:** \ **Category:** Elasticsearch\ **Created:** [February 22, 2016, 6:47pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/index-max-size/42421 "2016-02-22T18:47:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Juan\_Andres\_Ramirez](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/juan_andres_ramirez/32/9467_2.png) [@Juan\_Andres\_Ramirez](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Juan_Andres_Ramirez)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2016, 6:47pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/index-max-size/42421/1 "2016-02-22T18:47:08Z")
Hello Guys , Sorry for my noob question, but I can't find where can I setup the index size?. I just see in docs about shard cache or buffer size. Thank you ---
**Author:** ![rusty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f17d59/32.png) [@rusty](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/rusty)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2016, 7:41pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/index-max-size/42421/2 "2016-02-22T19:41:16Z")
Hi! There are no index size limit. Index max size limited by available hardware (in my case with RAM) and some shard-level limits (2.1B documents per shard and recommended shard size up to 20-40GB (soft limit to ensure reasonably fast index relocation speed over the net)). ---
**Author:** ![Juan\_Andres\_Ramirez](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/juan_andres_ramirez/32/9467_2.png) [@Juan\_Andres\_Ramirez](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Juan_Andres_Ramirez)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2016, 8:10pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/index-max-size/42421/3 "2016-02-22T20:10:44Z")
Hello Rusty, Thank you for you answer, with curator I can handle the index. I'll try with it. thank you !!!! ---
**Author:** ![anon80523324](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4491bb/32.png) [@anon80523324](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/anon80523324)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2017, 10:38am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/index-max-size/42421/4 "2017-01-17T10:38:34Z")
That means that my index size is limited by the shards and would be amount of shards \* max shard size (40 GB or what is it?). When the index size gets close to that I would have to add a shard to the index, correct? Is that possible or do I have to create a new index with let's say double the shards and move the old index to the new one ? ---
**Author:** ![rusty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f17d59/32.png) [@rusty](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/rusty)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2017, 1:23pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/index-max-size/42421/5 "2017-01-17T13:23:58Z")
The only limit is 2.1Billion documents per shard (it's Lucene core limitation), 20-40GBytes is soft limit (recommended size in terms of shard relocation time and shard recovery time). You should plan expected capacity in advance or use for sample time/name based indexes (you\_index-DATETIME\_OR\_COUNTER\_OR\_UID\_OR\_MISC and use wildcard to search like "/you\_index-\*/\_search"). ---
**Author:** ![anon80523324](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4491bb/32.png) [@anon80523324](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/anon80523324)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2017, 1:46pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/index-max-size/42421/6 "2017-01-17T13:46:12Z")
True, 2.1 Billion documents was the restriction. Thanks . ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2017, 10:04pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/index-max-size/42421/7 "2017-07-05T22:04:06Z")